These two players faced each other so many times last year and spent so much time on and off the court, maybe even more than with their girlfriends. Dimitrov is like a nightmare for David Goffin- 9 wins against 1 for Goffin. The only positive result for the Belgian in this battle was here in Rotterdam in three sets. Firstly they faced in Australia, where Dimitrov stopped Goffin in straight sets. Then Dimitrov reached the SF and made the match of the year against Nadal in five set drama with so many hot shots and long rallies. Grigor decided to play in the home tournament in Sofia and won it in the final against who? Yeah, it was Goffin.. So I don't know how Grigor decided to play in the next week in Rotterdam after so many weeks and matches on the court in Australia and in Sofia..it was almost the same with Goffin, too. They faced each other in the QFs and it was one set all, while in the third Grigor barely walked on the court and Goffin won the match. I really wanted Goffin to grab the title, but he was stopped by Tsonga in the final. To make the things even worse for Goffin, Dimitrov faced him two times in the finals in London and won all of them. In the groups Dimitrov was ruthless after winning by 6:0 6:2. In the final both of them were so nervous, which was expected and they made brilliant and close match, won by Grigor in three sets.

So now they have to play again in Rotterdam and this time I'm almost sure Grigor will procede to the final maybe against Federer. Grigor played two matches against people who played very aggresively from the baseline like Krajinovic and Rublev, so he proved he's absolutely ready for long rallies from the baseline. He was so stable on serve against Rublev with 12 aces and only 2 double faults. Yeah, that's true, only two DF, when in the previous tournaments he can easily made them just for one service game. Goffin on the other side performs well as Grigor here both of them without lost set. But the situation for the Belgian looks similar as the tournament in Monpellier last week. There he was ruthless in the first rounds with straight set wins and in the SF he was stopped by Gasquet. The possibility this one to happen here again is highly expected for me.

Grigor is so motivated right now and we saw in the end of the last season what happens when the Bulgarian finds his rhythm and plays confidently. Max stake here for Grigor progressing to the final!